Young Guns Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		1.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Young Guns Blu-ray Movie Review

A good, fun flick doesn't get the treatment it deserves on Blu-ray

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 5, 2007

Get ready for Hell!

What do you get when you mix up Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terrence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn, and Jack Palance? One of the better casts of the last twenty years in a fun little western called Young Guns. This is a film meant to rake in the money based on the names on the marquee, so go into it expecting an agreeable, mindless shoot 'em up movie and not something like one of the great recent westerns such as Tombstone and Open Range and you'll have a blast as you ride with the Young Guns.

Hey! Is that Tom Cruise down there?

Young Guns is the story of Billy the Kid and his fellow "Regulators," a group of young, promising men with troubled pasts hired by John Tunstall (Terence Stamp), an English cattle Rancher now living in New Mexico. He is in fierce competition with Mr. Murphy (Jack Palance), a rich rival with many men serving him who wants nothing more than to see Tunstall's ranch fail. When Murphy's men murder Tunstall, Billy and the Regulators decide to avenge their mentor and kill Murphy and as many of his men as they can. One can't help but like Mr. Tunstall, and it's a shame he had to bow out so early in the movie, but his death is the driving force behind the plot.

This is good, fun entertainment. It’s the old west meets 1980s style. There is some synthesizer action going on over the score, and it fits the mood of the picture well. The acting is solid but slightly over the top. Jack Palance plays a caricature of the evil old west rancher as only Jack Palance can. He's great, of course. This is still a very good cast today, and it was chock-full of all of the up-and-coming stars of the late 1980s. Emilio Estevez has a blast playing Billy the Kid, and he is sure fun to watch in several scenes, including one where he toys with a man who is out to kill Billy to collect the bounty that is out on his head. Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips turn in moderately good performances. Charlie Sheen is good, too, but his accent in this movie is one of the worst I have heard, right up there with some of Kevin Costner’s notoriously bad efforts in films like Thirteen Days and JFK. It's the supporting cast members that really drive the film, however. Terrence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn, and Jack Palance are all very good in their limited roles.

Young Guns Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This 1080p, 1.85:1 presentation of Young Guns is bad, and there's no way around it. This movie is almost 20 years old, but that doesn't excuse the problems evident on this disc. The opening credits text is jagged and pixelated around the edges. Noise is present throughout along with random speckles and dirt on the print. Edge enhancement is severe in most scenes and doesn't go away for the majority of the movie and when it does, the image suddenly becomes overly soft. Blacks sometimes appear to be dark blue rather than black. Despite these problems, this was an obvious upgrade for me, coming from an old, non anamorphic version of the film. Don't get me wrong; the disc is by no means unwatchable, but it could be far, far better. This is the best we're likely to see Young Guns look for quite some time (at least until Lionsgate releases the inevitable special edition), so there is no reason to avoid this disc based on the video quality if you really like this film.

Young Guns Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Presented with both 5.1 DD EX and 6.1 DTS HD tracks, the audio fares much, much better than the video on this disc. A good portion of the movie is dialogue driven. It sounds fine, and there is good ambience to be heard. Horses trotting, birds chirping, and blowing wind permeate the soundtrack. When the gunfights erupt, surrounds are active as bullets fly all around and explosions erupt with bass heavy authority. This is an adequate track that gets the job done, but not one you'll ever use as a demo to show off your sound system.

Young Guns Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Lionsgate has left the cabinet pretty bare in the extras department on this disc. Out of the Blue Trivia is a fun little pop-up trivia track that provides interesting tidbits about the real story behind the movie, fun facts from the set (did you know Tom Cruise makes a brief appearance in Young Guns?), and it keeps up with the death toll throughout the runtime of the picture. Sometimes these tidbits disappear from the screen too quickly. Please note that the audio reverts to a 2.0 Dolby Digital track when this feature is selected. The other feature is a documentary entitled The Real Billy the Kid (480p, 30:57). This is a decent feature, narrated as if for children, but with some good basic background on Billy the Kid. 1080p trailers for Ultimate Avengers 2 and Crank round out the special features.

Young Guns Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Young Guns is a great Saturday afternoon action flick. It's funny, has great action, a plot that gets it from beginning to end without being an embarrassment, and an all-star cast. Unfortunately, the technical aspects of this disc are subpar. The video quality is well below average (though watchable) and the audio is adequate at best. Supplements are scarce, and I am sure there is much more out there that is just waiting for a special edition on Blu-ray at some point in the future. If you like this movie and all you have is a non-anamorphic DVD or laserdisc or VHS copy, this is worth an upgrade, but otherwise I'd pass on this one. There is bound to be a better edition available at some point in the future.